


The New Resident

by AmaranthPrincess21



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Everyone is Dead, F/M, Haunted Mansion AU, ghost!Reader, ghost!levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 14:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3491813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmaranthPrincess21/pseuds/AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mansion is hurrying to welcome their newest resident, Levi. But when something goes wrong and you're the one that has to welcome him, you find that not every haunt in the mansion is happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The New Resident

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm a huge Disney nerd and one of my favorite rides of all time is the Haunted Mansion so I thought I'd do an HM AU! I do plan on actually writing a full-blown Haunted Mansion AU series but that won't happen for a while. I have two series I want to write before that.
> 
> Also, this is one of my entries for DA group Guild of Readers' "Starting a New Chapter" contest.

"All right everybody, listen up! We have a new resident scheduled to arrive in an hour and we're still nowhere near ready for him!" Frieda Reiss' voice cut over the crowd assembled in the Grand Hall like a hot knife through butter. The girl was a natural public speaker; that much was obvious. "Decoration Committee, the Hall looks fantastic, but have you finished the hallway to his room?"

"Yup! We're all done!" Nifa piped up, looking very pleased with herself. 

"If anyone needs help with their tasks, the Decoration Committee is more than happy to help!" Committee President Petra Ral announced. 

"Great! And Welcoming Committee, you've complied the advice notes, right?" Frieda inquired. Now it was your time to talk. 

"Yeah, we've got them all but we still need to tie them to the doors," you informed her. "We also have the resident handbook ready for him too." 

"Perfect! Just get those notes placed and you're all good! House Committee, you’re ready to give him a full tour of the mansion and the grounds after the Welcoming Committee greets him?" Frieda asked. 

"Oluo, Gunther, and Eld are working on the landscaping malfunction and Farlan's with Isabel fixing the broken glass in the conservatory, but other than that we're ready to give him a tour," Carla Yeager told her. 

“How much longer will they be?” 

“I don’t know an exact time but I can guess another hour or two.” Frieda's lips puckered in frustration as she stared back down at her list. 

"Well darn. I was going to move Farlan and Izzy to the Welcoming Committee," she said. 

"There's a Committee member change?" Nanaba asked, raising a fair eyebrow as a small murmur went through the crowd. _How come she’s switching people without asking me if it’s okay,_ you wondered, looking to Frieda for answers. "Isn't this a little sudden, Frieda?" 

"I know, I know. It's just that I thought it'd be good if Levi, our new resident, was greeted by his friends. He hasn't seen them in years and I thought it'd ease his transition. No doubt he'll be freaked out and need some familiar faces in the afterlife. We all did," she added and a few people nodded in agreement. 

"That's actually a really good idea," Nanaba replied. _I still wish she’d asked me before she moved people into my committee,_ you thought resentfully. 

"Thank you! That being said, I want Petra, Eld, Gunther, Oluo, Farlan, and Isabel to welcome Levi to his new home," she said. 

"I can go grab Farlan and Izzy if you want," you offered, standing up from your seat at the banquet table. 

"Would you?" she asked, relief spreading over her face. No doubt she was feeling stressed. "Thank you, [First]!" 

"Yeah, no problem." You left the Grand Hall and jaunted down the long and dark hallways of the mansion. 

You had died quite a while ago, long before Frieda Reiss came to the mansion and brought everyone together. It'd been a dark time then. The mansion was simply too big for a few lone people to take care of and you knew that there were still some unused wings just waiting to be restored. But once Frieda got to the mansion, this afterlife you had been sent to, she made an effort into making this mysterious mansion something nice and wonderful for everyone. 

But for some reason the conservatory always needed some repair job done, whether it was fixing the furniture, or fixing the broken glass panel. It was the bane of the House Committee's existence and after a while they gave up trying to prevent the damage from happening in the first place and just waited for the jobs to show up. 

Farlan was on a ladder, piecing and gluing the glass together while Isabel boarded up a lower pane that had been completely shattered. The heavy mahogany door swung open slowly and gave the two enough time to realize they weren't alone. 

"What's up, [First]?" Farlan asked, looking back at you from his perch. "Is it time to give the new resident a tour already?" 

"Kinda. Frieda's made a temporary change in committee membership. You two are welcoming our new resident," you replied. 

"What? Why?" Isabel asked, putting down her hammer and nails. 

"It's . . . uh, you two were close to our new resident when he was alive and Frieda thought it'd be good for him if you and his other friends to welcome him into the afterlife," you explained. 

"Wait, who is it?" Farlan had climbed down the ladder and was looking you dead-on and expectantly. You swallowed hard. 

" . . . It's Levi . . ." Farlan and Isabel wasted no time flying past you and down to the foyer, leaving the conservatory and their jobs behind in the blink of an eye. _Jeez, they must've really loved the guy in life,_ you thought. 

You quickly tidied up their workplaces before wandering through the dark hallways of the mansion. The golden light from the brass and crystal chandeliers rained down on the dark wooden doors and dusty pink wallpaper. It was naturally dark in the mansion most of the time, but it’s not like it mattered all that much to you, although you had to admit it was rather spooky at times. The House Committee had considered adding more chandeliers in the hallways, but ultimately decided that other projects, such as fixing the conservatory and restoring abandoned rooms, were more important than inadequate lighting in the hallways. 

_I wonder what Levi’s like,_ you wondered as you floated down the halls. _He must have been very loved during life to have such a positive reaction. Or maybe it was negative? I mean it’d be heartbreaking to find out your friend died, even if it means they’re joining you after so many years._

A loud earsplitting boom rushed through the hallways like flood waters, followed by a shattering sound. _That sounded like it came from the Grand Hall!_ You flew over to the centerpiece of the house and through the door onto the staircase’s landing. The opulent chandelier was on the ground, broken and smashed into pieces. Shards of glass were everywhere and Petra was hurriedly zooming around the room trying to pick up the candles that somehow managed to stay lit. 

"Is everyone okay?!" Mina Carolina called out, peeking out from behind a column. 

"We're _ghosts,_ of course we're okay!" Thomas Wagner yelled back at her from his place on the staircase. 

“Jesus, what happened here?!” you demanded, jumping the rail and floating down to the floor. 

“The chains holding the chandelier up finally broke,” Ilse Langnar said as the House Committee members anxiously looked at the damage. Frieda’s shrill screaming about “ignoring crucial house repairs” assaulted everyone’s ears to the point Ilse had to shout to tell you exactly what happened. 

“WELL WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!” you yelled at her. “THE PARTY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN HERE AND LEVI SHOULD BE HERE IN A FEW MINUTES! WE CAN’T CLEAN THAT FAST!” 

“I DON’T KNOW,” Ilse yelled back. “I GUESS WE’LL HAVE TO MOVE THE PARTY INTO THE CONSERVATORY!” 

“THE CONSERVATORY ISN’T COMPLETELY FIXED YET,” you informed her. 

“ILSE! [FIRST]! GET OVER HERE NOW! WE NEED TO CLEAN THIS UP!” Frieda screamed, throwing a large chunk of glass at the two of you. It sliced through Ilse’s head and hit the wall behind you two. 

“But what about Levi? What are we going to do about his welcoming party?” you asked, approaching her. 

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to cancel it for now. God, this is such a disaster,” she added, running her fingers throw her dark hair. 

“I don’t know the guy, but if you want me to give him a house tour and keep him occupied until this is fixed,” you offered. Frieda sighed as if this was a last resort and a twinge of irritation shocked your system. I’m head of the Welcoming Committee, she shouldn’t be acting like I can’t do this, you thought. 

“Yeah, if you could I’d like that. I need Farlan and Isabel for piecing this glass back together and Petra’s the only one here that can weld,” Frieda said as she slowly nodded. Her blue eyes flitted to her watch and her lips puckered again. “He should be here really soon. Can you go up to the foyer right now?” 

“Got it.” Without another word you flew through the air and ascended through the house to the foyer of the house. Like the rest of the house it was pretty poorly lit but it was clean and it gave new residents a warm welcome. And when you entered the small room you found a man, assumedly Levi, in the room, looking around with piercing blue eyes. _Oh my. He’s really pretty,_ you thought, eyes looking up and down his short but toned body. His eyes snapped to you and you gave him a small wave. _I really hope he didn’t notice me checking him out. Talk about awkward first meeting._

“Where the hell am I?” He wasted no time in getting down to business, striding towards you like a tsunami towards the shore. 

“You’re in the mansion!” you explained calmly, hoping hearing a peaceful voice would calm him down a little. He did _not_ look happy being in the Mansion. “It’s a home for ghosts! Or it’s the afterlife, we’re not completely sure. We’re still figuring that out.” 

“What, so I’m dead?” he asked, his voice sharper than a razor blade. You bit your lip and nodded slowly. 

“Yeah. I’m sorry, but we’ll do all we can to make your afterlife a wonderful exp -” 

“‘We?’” 

“Well, yes. There’s quite a few of us here,” you explained. _Can he stop being so aggressive? It’s really a buzz kill._ “We’ve been renovating this house and we had a welcoming party planned, but unfortunately we had a catastrophe in the Grand Hall and everyone’s there right now cle-” His thin fingers grasped your shirt and pulled you close, blue eyes lit with hell fire. 

“Who’s here?” he demanded. You gave him a look that could curdle milk and pushed him away, none too kindly by the way. 

“Don’t grab me. I’m just here to give you a tour of the house and make you feel welcome because your friends are helping fix the broken chandelier,” you sneered at him. “But, if you must know, your friends Farlan, Isabel, Petra, Gu -” 

“I want to see them.” 

“Can you _not_ interrupt me? It’s really rude.” 

“Look _princess_ I want to see them now so if you’d kindly take me to wherever the hell they are, I’d appreciate it,” he said condescendingly. 

“Frieda, she’s our House Manager, she gets mad when people go into areas getting cleaned -” 

“I said I want to see my friends.” Your eyes glared right back into his bright blue ones. _This is going to be a stalemate if you kept staring at him,_ your conscious told you. _Just lead him to the Grand Hall and face Frieda’s wrath later._

“Fine. The sooner you see them, the sooner you’re out of my hair,” you said, throwing your hands up in defeat. He was silent, walking side by side with you to the Grand Hall. _Why is he so quiet? Usually people are pretty chatty when they come here, judging from past Welcomes. He doesn’t look like he’s nervous or anything. Maybe he’s just a quiet person. Or he’s just too much of an asshole to concern himself with others._

You opened the door of the Grand Hall and from the looks of it, cleanup was going very, very slowly. All of the candles had been collected but there was still glass strewn across the tiled floor. You walked to the edge of the landing and motioned for Levi to follow. Surprisingly, he did. 

“Hey, guys,” you called out. Everyone’s eyes flickered up to you and Levi and the squealing started. An ungodly sound came from Isabel’s mouth and in seconds she was on the landing, arms wrapped around Levi. Farlan and Petra were hot on her heels, joining Levi and Isabel. You felt Frieda’s eyes burning holes into your body and a quick glance in her direction confirmed she was glaring at you. If looks could kill, you’d be dead if you weren’t already. _Great. Time to face the music._ With a grimace, you went down to the stairs and over to her to get the scolding of an afterlifetime. 

  


Whatever landscaping fixes Gunther, Eld, and Oluo managed were thoroughly ruined by the huge storm that raged outside of the mansion. Thunder roared outside and the wind howled like a pained beast as you all waited out the storm inside the mansion. It wasn’t like you could get injured or wet from the falling tree branches or constant rain, but frankly the gardens weren’t enjoyable in such extreme weather. But then again, there wasn’t a lot of time to try and take a stroll through the gardens anyway. The repair and restoration of the Grand Hall’s chandelier turned out to be a huger project than anyone could have imagined. The House Committee was constantly working at fixing the chandelier and although it was one of the larger committees, they had to recruit volunteers from the other committees to help out, granted they had experience in metal or glass work. 

A few days had passed since Levi’s arrival and in that time you hadn’t seen him once. But with all of his close friends busy with fixing the chandelier you were at a loss of what he was doing during this time. And despite the rough start you got off to, you felt a little worried at his absence. Most new residents were very active and you usually ran into them a few times a day. But not Levi. 

“Oh yeah, he came to me wanting something to do and I gave him the task of cleaning out some old rooms,” Frieda said as you helped her polish a few fixed glass ornaments. “We’re expecting a huge amount of people in two weeks and we need at least twenty more rooms at the ready.” 

_“‘Twenty?’”_ you repeated, glancing at her incredulously. _Ugh, that’s going to be a nightmare for the Welcoming Committee,_ you groaned. 

“I know! There must be something major brewing in the living world,” she said, shaking her head. “But the point is that we’re going to need twenty rooms ready and then at least another thirty for the following week. Levi has a much better grasp at cleaning than he does metalwork so I thought he could get a head start on preparing the rooms.” 

“Do you know how well he’s adjusting to death?” you questioned. 

“No idea. He doesn’t talk much to me. He’ll talk a lot with Izzy and Farlan, and quite a bit with Petra and her gang, he has every time I’ve seen him, but I don’t think he’s reached out to anyone else. I could probably polish all of this by myself if you wanted to go help him clean and prepare the bedrooms,” she suggested. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, of course! You go on and help him out. I’m fine here.” 

“All right. I’ll go do that. Where is he?” 

“He’s in the new wing the Survey Corps Committee just mapped out. I figured with a huge number of new residents we should clean out one of the recently found wings and use it to house them. He should be there, unless he’s in his room. You know how new ghosts are. They still need to go through the old motions of life like sleeping.” 

“I’ll just go check the new wing first,” you shrugged. You put your tools away neatly and floated through the house to the new wing. With all the soldiers in the mansion they’d created a small committee dedicated to finding all of the wings of the house and creating a good map of the mansion since it was fairly easy to get lost. 

The hallways in the newly discovered wing were clearly very old but they were clean and sparkling. Not a single cobweb could be found in the vicinity and it looked like the chandeliers and candle fixtures had been cleaned and polished from the way they gleamed. 

“Levi, are in you here? I want to help you clean the new rooms,” you called out as you peeked into the bedrooms. Just like the hallway, they were neat and clean. 

“Over here,” he yelled from halfway done the hall. _Wow, he really got this place clean fast,_ you thought with a twinge of admiration. He was polishing a dresser as you walked into the bedroom. The floor had recently been mopped, the furniture was dusted off, even the sheets on the bed looked fresh. 

“This room looks great, Levi,” you told him. “Not to mention the hallway is simply gorgeous. Did you do all of this?” 

“Yeah,” he replied tersely. 

“I have to take my hat off to you, sir. Your cleaning job is incredible,” you said, walking over to the bed and sitting on it. You quickly stood up as he glared at you for ruining his job on the bed. 

“So why are you here?” he asked. 

“I wanted to help you clean. I thought you could use some help,” you told him, tying back your hair so it wouldn’t get in your face. 

“I don’t need help.” _Not very friendly, is he? I guess I just have to work harder._

“Don’t be silly. You can’t do this all by yourself,” you said, grabbing a rag and putting some polish on it. “You’ll work yourself to death.” 

“Yeah because that can happen to a ghost,” he snarled. _Okay, he’s a little touchy on death. Note to self: don’t talk about it._

“So, how do you like it here?” you ventured, cautiously but making sure he didn’t think you were walking on eggshells with him. 

“You people have a weird love of committees,” he commented, making you chuckle. 

“Yeah. It was all Frieda’s idea as a way for us to get together to fix up this house and it just kind of stuck,” you told him. “Most of us belong to one or even two. Are you thinking of joining one?” 

“No.” _Why am I not surprised?_

“They can be a lot of fun. It isn’t constant work, you know, despite what’s going on right now.” 

“I figured. I’m just not interested in joining any group or something,” he said. 

“All right. Suit yourself,” you shrugged. “I know I’m not really close to you at all -” 

“We just met three days ago,” he reminded you. 

“I’m aware of that,” you said, a slight edge in your voice. “But anyway, as head of the Welcoming Committee and since I haven’t really seen you around, I know this might be a little sensitive topic but how are you adjusting to the afterlife?” 

“Why are you so fucking nosy?” he retorted. 

“Well excuse me for just wanting to know if you’re okay,” you told him, rolling your eyes. “I am _so_ incredibly sorry that I care about people and want to know about their well-being.” Your rags rubbing against the dresser was the only sound filling the air as the two of you stopped talking. But the silence didn’t last very long until he spoke up. 

“I’m doing fine,” Levi replied as if he felt guilty. “This is better than the afterlife I thought I was going to get.” 

“Yeah, it is a nice afterlife, isn’t it?” you agreed. _Just ‘fine?’ If that’s not suspicious I don’t know what is,_ you thought. 

“My only issue is that the House Committee has been holed up in the Grand Hall for the past few days,” he admitted. 

“They usually aren’t this busy. It’s just because the chandelier broke that they’re doing all this work,” you told him. “You probably haven’t seen much of Isabel and the rest of your friends, have you?” 

“No, I haven’t,” he said. _There it is. He’s lonely, isn’t he?_

“I . . . I know our rooms are that close to each other, I mean you’re on a whole different floor, but if you ever need some company I’m usually free,” you told him. 

“You’re not busy with some shitty group?” he asked and for a moment you swear you saw a smirk on his face. 

“I’m not, actually. The Welcoming Committee doesn’t do much except greet new residents and help Frieda plan parties,” you informed him. 

“It seems like Frieda’s got her fingers in every single pie,” he commented. 

“She does. She’s Committee Manager so she oversees everything.” He nodded absentmindedly, looking back at his polishing handiwork. “It looks great, Levi.” 

“Thank you, [First],” he said. He was a rather odd man, you were growing to realize. It seemed that under his rough exterior an interesting person lay underneath. You figured he had to, otherwise why would he have so many friends? But it wasn’t just the façade he put up that intrigued you. Most newly departed souls were brewing about their death, but here Levi was acting like nothing was different. _Why is he bottling up his feelings so much? That’s really bad for someone. Maybe I should try and get him to talk a little. He can’t just keep things inside._

“How’d it happen, if I can ask?” you inquired quietly. He shrugged, looking to the intricate rug as if contemplating whether or not to clean it. 

“I guess my body just gave out. I got injured in battle and was in an infirmary. I fell asleep and the next thing I knew I was outside the mansion,” he shrugged. His eyes darted to yours. “How’d you die?” 

“To be honest, I don’t remember. I’ve been here a long time and I know there’s a record of what happened; we have a records room that has our information in folders, but I haven’t seen mine and I don’t remember how I died. All I remember was my life before my death and then wandering the halls of this house. Or heaven. I really don’t know if this is heaven or if it’s just a house we’ve all somehow congregated to,” you admitted. 

“Or it’s just a generic afterlife. Who knows,” he shrugged. 

“I don’t know. There are so many soldiers here and I don’t know why I would be in a heaven with all of you. You’re all brave fighters and talk of things I’ve never heard about before,” you confided in him. 

“So you’ve been here for centuries,” he said. You shrugged. 

“I really don’t know. Sometimes amnesia happens when you die and you can’t remember much. A few of us think it’s a defense mechanism.” 

"Haven't you ever wanted to look at your record and know what happened?" 

"Kind of. But if I can't remember it I'm assuming something very bad happened and my head's blocked it out. So why go look at it?" 

"I see." Maybe this was why you felt such a pull to Levi. The two of you had some issue with death. He didn’t seem like he’d accepted his yet and you couldn’t remember yours. He put the wood polish and rag neatly into a bucket before getting to his feet. "I'd like to take you up on that mansion tour offer. Might as well get to know the place I'll be spending eternity in." 

"Yeah, sure!" You perked up, giving him a large grin. _I think I’ve made a breakthrough with him!_ "I'll show you around! It's going to take a while, though. Are you okay taking a long break?" 

"Yeah, it's fine," he waved away your concern. 

"Great! Let's get started then!" And with a beckoning hand and a warm smile, you gave Levi a proper introduction and welcome into the afterlife.


End file.
